UDF/ATCHEYA-BINGU FALLOUT - Who saved the nation?

I have kept thinking about this for a long time and I have decided to put "pen to paper" on it.

Where I come from, Mjinge Mhlaba Village, I grew up being told that "mwamuna, particularly mwana wa mNgoni, salira." I am not very sure if "chamuna")should be the word definitive of what the UDF found themselves in - was it by design or by default? (of course, tinaamva akuliralira – but then that was all, they could have gone further if so they wanted and willed – ena adakalirabe tikuamva, again, that is all they are doing.

When the leadership crisis strangled the UDF, full throttle, in the run-up to the 2004 Elections, the effects nearly descended on the whole nation, the failure to properly identify and democratically elect a leader in the UDF, translated to the Open terms bill, it further underwent a metamorphosis and became "the thinly veiled open terms but named third term." Young Democrats ran amok, they went on rampage, killing, maiming, beating, physically assaulting any person who was unwilling, unable or refused to sing the "ayimanso tune." Church leaders/elders to, were not spared the beating if they uttered a word against the "ayimanso saga." The Government, UDF led, used the Police machinery like their own security company, but hey, despite all this, Malawians remained resolute, determined to put at bay anything that resembled turning the hands on the clock towards the 31 years of MCP's brutal rule - the open terms, later on turned the 3rd term bill got defeated, crashed by a robust Parliament - an emerging Democracy saw its worst days. Thanks to our Parliament then and particularly the few MPs within the UDF who saw no sense in putting Bakili Muluzi on a course that would have seen him around as Malawi's president for time on end, probably till he became demented, like HKB did. Some political jobs were or were about to be lost…Chihana’s power base shrunk at an increasing rate, JZU quickly reversed his support for the same after noticing that the Malawian voter was in an uncompromising mood on this issue, Churches were divided on the issue – Atcheya sat back, watched all the drama as if it had nothing to do with him – politics at its best…at least in our part of the world.

After the Nation said no to the infamous open terms and third term bills, the leadership crisis in the UDF went back to the confines of the Party and there, heads were going to roll, and roll they did, particularly those that were seen to be harbouring some leadership ambitions and not having put enough effort to push through the infamous open terms/third term bills - Harry Thomson went, Justin Chimera Malewezi went, Aleke Kadonaphani Banda went, Brown J. Mpinganjira went, Joseph Makhumula went and so many other prominent party members fell out of grace with the reigning powers in the party at the time.

One other thing contributed to all this UDF party "disintegration." - a new name seemed to be making rounds for a possible take over of the Party leadership - Bingu wa Muntharika...some party gurus made it clear they did not want the "new chap in the block" others supported the idea purely because Atcheya anena and yet others were standing on the fence, if BwM comes in, he should not see us as having been on this side or the other...at the end of the day, the "new chap" took over the UDF leadership mantle...very few people clapped hands, very few people gave the chap any chance of winning the election, some UDfers even went to the extent of saying the "product was unsellable therefore very difficult to market." Atcheya, though, was determined, campaigned for this product through and through, criss-crossing the country at will, what with state resources available at his simple whim and fancy, including "free" airwave coverage by both TVM and MBC...came the election, despite other parties not agreeing, BwM was elected President of Malawi on a UDF ticket, thrashing Vincent Gwandangulube Chakuamba, many circles thought he was the favourite, into the 3rd position, with JZU on second. Opinions are as diverse as one can think of on who really must have won the 2004 Presidential elections - some say JZU was the rightful winner, they have their own reasons, others say Gwanda should have carried the day, they have their own reasons and yet others believe BwM won in genuine terms.

The Nation could now progress...but wait a minute, AKB, running mate to Gwnada declared the "Mgwirizano Coalition" winner and saw the opening of a case in our courts on the same, JZU was grumbling too, but he was "swimming his waters very carefully, as he has always been when it comes to issues of elections, not necessarily refusing that elections were rigged but also not necessarily willing to contest the case if he was not the one considered the winner - eventually the case went crashing...

Meanwhile the UDF was preparing for another five years of Government...starting with a grand inauguration of the President – Bingu wa muntharika was the name and indeed, Chichiri stadium was going to be the venue, heavy police presence was witnessed. When all seemed "nice and sweet", BwM stood up to speak, and the fact that he was going to be his own man was very evident from his touching inaugural speech - he departed very sharply from what we used to hear from the UDF top brass for 10 years - many who thought BwM had nothing to offer changed their hearts when the speech came to the last full stop...war on corruption, Malawi is not poor, a robust civil service, a lean cabinet, fiscal discipline - all the things a Malawian would have loved to hear from his/her leader came out of Bingu's mouth...of course in his inaugural speech…as to whether he has walked his inaugural talk, Malawians are the best judge on the matter…as for me, at least I do not consider the cabinet “lean” a it stands as we speak.

An immediate relocation from Sanjika Palace to the New State House (some ask when will it become aged and no longer new?), jitters within and in the UDF could be felt from the outside world - a new order was taking shape in our country - good or bad who could tell at that time and as we speak, who can tell in real terms whether it was/is good or bad - opinions continue to vary and I think that will be the case till time on end.

The cabinet, Bingu's first, took close to three weeks to be put in place - conspiracy theorists believe and say, Atcheya had already come up with the Cabinet which he wanted BwM to endorse wholesale and BwM refused...conspirancy theorists continue to propagate the notion that Atcheya wanted to continue ruling through Bingu – Chichewa chake “kufuna kumayimba nawo belu, munthu ali pakaliyala.” If that was the dream within the UDF, Bingu was having none of it.

Much as we, as a nation could not place a finger on it at that time, the Malawian people could tell though, that something was not right in and within the UDF with Bingu in the equation. Being a product - Bingu wa Muntarika and the Sponsor - the UDF...parallel lines seemed to be emerging between the two - either of the two needed, very very quickly, to comply with the other and it seemed none was prepared for the "compliance" and the biggest political fall out saw its birth, the UDF sponsored BwM, announced his departure from the UDF and a few days later, Democratic Progressive Party, shortened to DPP - was born - what a hell of a situation, come to think of it...

My biggest concern in this article, though, is the events that followed...UDF was up in arms demanding BwM's blood - I totally understand and understood them, BwM was up in arms declaring UDF a corrupt party, UDF went further and acknowledged having rigged the elections in favour of Bingu - total mayhem for a Nation dying for good governance, real stability and economic progress...BwM was treading where "angels" (with a small "A") would have feared to do the same...he was, predictably, going to have a rough ride with his duty to govern a people of Malawi and he had and I think he still has...THAT ROUGH RIDE.

Now, that we seem to have put all that behind us (I assume), who has averted a major disaster from besetting our country - the UDFor BwM - I am sure views on this issue can be, will be and are varied depending on which part of the elephant you are holding on to. As for this citizen of Malawi, each party has had a role to play in bringing about the mess and they have had a role to play in making sure it does not escalate to something sinister - issues of capacity could be at stake as well, one can never know for certain.

Much as the UDF seemed, at some point, to have drunk from the cup of hatred and bitterness with all these political machinations, they fell short, probably in a positive way, of employing the tactics they used to fight for the maturation of the open and third term bills - particularly the YDs aspect, to throw the nation into turmoil; and Bingu, despite all the "resources" he may have access to, DID NOT USE, has not used EITHER, brutal force against the people who have constantly campaigned for his downfall particularly the UDF. He has instead, for valid or just political reasons, tried to use the legal set up to try and bring down most of his enemies…of course some of them still survive as we speak

We are a nation in need of leadership, we are a nation in dire straits, we are a nation in economic doldrums, we can not afford a political game that yields no results, we can not afford to keep on going and not improve the quality of life of our people - each one of us, particularly our political leaders - in government or in opposition have a role in forging a pure developmental agenda for the whole nation, if development fails, all of us fail, development fails, Malawians will continue to live on less than a dollar a day, development fails, we fail our people and terribly so...

We can not keep on like this - there has to be a time for politicking but there has to be time for political leadership delivery, good delivery, i am talking about which entails development for Malawi which has to translate to development, in real terms, for our people.

2007, has to be a year, all of us should tell ourselves and our neighbour, for a Malawi that is on course to brighter future and a better today.

In conclusion, let me say this – thoughts purely shaped from the thoughts of martin Luther King jr: -

It is no longer time for political leadership to be issuing bad cheques in as far as our development is concerned as a people. Time is up for development cheques given to our people by the political leadership to come back marked “insufficient funds, it is no longer time for the Malawian people to always get raw deals from “scrupulous” people feigning possession of good political leadership, when in fact, it is themselves the really care about.” Malawians will soon, be coming to their nationa’s capital to cash their cheque and it wil not be good enough to find insufficient funds in their development purse, they will not accept that as a fact because they know the potential that Malawi possesses on their behalf – it is about leadership.

The storm is coming; it may not be long from now…be on the lookout.

Isaac Cheke Ziba
Livingston - Scotland.